As it turns out, Bribery does work

Bribery Got Bin Laden - The Dish

Forget the cover story of waterboarding-leads-to-courier-leads-to bin Laden...Sources in the intelligence community tell me that after years of trying and one bureaucratically insane near-miss in Yemen, the US government killed OBL because a Pakistani intelligence officer came forward to collect the approximately $25 million reward from the State Department's Rewards for Justice program.

Turns out that it wasn't torture that lead to Bin Laden, it was bribery. Someone within Pakistani intelligence stepped forward to collect the $25 million bounty of OBL's head. Of course I doubt this bit of fact will ever penetrate the wall of lies the right-wing so skillfully hides behind. But politics aside, the bigger point however is that if it was indeed a Pakistani intelligence officer that told us of OBL's whereabouts it confirms what many of us have already suspected. That high-level members of the Pakistani Government knew Bin Laden was there and were protecting him. It's no longer an issue of "did they know?" as much as it is "how much did they know?"

Mexican Migration North Sputters to a Trickle

For all this talk about illegal immigration the media has overlooked one glaring fact. The New York Times explains:

Douglas S. Massey, co-director of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton, an extensive, long-term survey in Mexican emigration hubs, said his research showed that interest in heading to the United States for the first time had fallen to its lowest level since at least the 1950s. “No one wants to hear it, but the flow has already stopped,” Mr. Massey said, referring to illegal traffic. “For the first time in 60 years, the net traffic has gone to zero and is probably a little bit negative.” 

The decline in illegal immigration, from a country responsible for roughly 6 of every 10 illegal immigrants in the United States, is stark. The Mexican census recently discovered four million more people in Mexico than had been projected, which officials attributed to a sharp decline in emigration.

What is this decrease attributed too? 

 In simple terms, Mexican families are smaller than they had once been. The pool of likely migrants is shrinking. Despite the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, birth control efforts have pushed down the fertility rate to about 2 children per woman from 6.8 in 1970, according to government figures. So while Mexico added about one million new potential job seekers annually in the 1990s, since 2007 that figure has fallen to an average of 800,000, according to government birth records. By 2030, it is expected to drop to 300,000.

And...

A significant expansion of legal immigration — aided by American consular officials — is also under way. Congress may be debating immigration reform, but in Mexico, visas without a Congressionally mandated cap on how many people can enter have increased from 2006 to 2010, compared with the previous five years. 

State Department figures show that Mexicans who have become American citizens have legally brought in 64 percent more immediate relatives, 220,500 from 2006 through 2010, compared with the figures for the previous five years. Tourist visas are also being granted at higher rates of around 89 percent, up from 67 percent, while American farmers have legally hired 75 percent more temporary workers since 2006.

AND...

 Still, education represents the most meaningful change. The census shows that throughout Jalisco, the number of senior high schools or preparatory schools for students aged 15 to 18 increased to 724 in 2009, from 360 in 2000, far outpacing population growth. The Technological Institute of Arandas, where Angel studies engineering, is now one of 13 science campuses created in Jalisco since 2000 — a major reason professionals in the state, with a bachelor’s degree or higher, also more than doubled to 821,983 in 2010, up from 405,415 in 2000.

While stories Mexican Cartels and illegal immigration laws have dominated our headlines, Mexico has quietly improving. Our net migration rate from Mexico has hit zero. Immigration is at its lowest levels since 1950. Part of this is due to our recession but a large part of it is due to the improving situation in Mexico. Educational opportunities are expanding, infrastructure has improved, and jobs are being created. Imagine that? Investing in infrastructure and education helping the economy? Anyways, I digress. Conversely, the cost of being smuggled across the border has more than tripled in last 15 years. The violence at the border is actually preventing immigration north. Increased security along the Texas and California borders has forced immigrants to take the more dangerous Arizona route. Its not longer worth it to cross the border. If and when Mexico gets the security situation under control, they might finally be ready to make that giant leap forward. 

Al-Qaeda Close to Collapse

The Washington Post

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta declared during a recent visit to Afghanistan that “we’re within reach of strategically defeating al-Qaeda.” The comment was dismissed by skeptics as an attempt to energize troops while defending the administration’s decision to wind down a decade-old war....  

Largely because of bin Laden’s death, “we can even see the end of al-Qaeda as the global, borderless, united jihad,” said another U.S. official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Great news. The article points towards Yemen as the new focus of the War on Terror. If this is the case, does this mean we can pull out of Afghanistan now?

The Debt Ceiling For Dummies

The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

If you are still trying to understand what the debt ceiling debate is all about I completely understand. Unless you have a degree in Economics its just not an issue most Americans are familiar with. The chart above however puts it in terms that everybody who has a checking account can understand. If the debt ceiling isn't raised by August 2nd the U.S. Treasury runs out of money. Without the ability to take on more debt we will be unable to pay our bills. The military won't be getting paid, government employees won't be getting paid, social security checks will stop going out, medicare will be suspended, and our credit rating will be downgraded making our bonds useless. Simply put mass chaos would ensue. 


If a deal is not done there are a couple of things that might save us from armageddon. First off, its hard for me to believe that the debt rating service Moody's would downgrade our debt, knowing full well that such a move would send world markets into free fall. I doubt they have the balls to do that. Secondly, I still hold out hope that Obama will invoke the 14th amendment and service our debt regardless of the debt ceiling. The reason he hasn't committed to it yet is because he doesn't want to undermine negotiations. It would be irresponsible of him to send this country into a depression when he had a tool at his disposal to prevent it and chose not use it. Bill Clinton has already come out in favor of such a move. I still hold out an irrational hope that one side will give in, at this point I don't care which side it is, as long as it gets done.

The Space Shuttle and the End of American Exceptionalism

Last week saw the final flight of an American space shuttle, as Atlantis completed her trip to the International Space Station (ISS) and landed with no problems.

The final flight was greeted with nostalgia by many talking heads in the press, sad to see the end of an era in America's domination of space flight. For now and the foreseeable future, American astronauts will be ferried to and from the ISS via the Russian Soyuz rockets. I have to admit, I feel embarrassed that, after putting a man on the moon and fulfilling JFK's vision, we're reduced to relying on another nation to get our brave men and women into space.

I understand the budgetary constraints NASA operates under. In fact NASA has had budget issues since the end of the Space Race in the early 1970s. At the time, many in NASA dreamed that going to the Moon was just the first step to going to Mars. But the crises of the 1970s (economic stagflation, War in Vietnam,  oil shocks, etc.) killed the dream. Ever since then, American politicians have talked about plans to go to Mars, but every decade has gone by with simple talk, and nothing more.


As a young boy, I dreamed of going to the stars as an astronaut.  These days my dreams are little different, but I still look up to the skies in amazement. But beyond simply demoralizing the space program and killing American scientific and technological advancement the end of the Space Shuttle and cutbacks to the space program overall tell me that our nation has become unable to do great things.

Currently, Washington D.C. is the site of negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. News about the project, which was never much of an issue until now, has become more depressing and, quite frankly, more frustrating. A government unable to do previously simple things worries me. But we need to be able to do the big things, like addressing infrastructure, education, and sensible reform of Medicare/Medicaid or else our country is done for.

America is in decline relative to the rise of other, newer powers such as China, Brazil, and India. It does not have to be that our decline is a sudden thud, or that we even become less relevant in the world. We still shine as a beacon of hope and freedom to millions of people around the world, and our culture is still embraced by many. But becoming a nation that can't do the big things, the medium-sized things, and the small things...is a recipe for a nation that no longer has the will to lead.

Some think the end of the shuttle means the beginning of private investment into space travel. Perhaps that will be the case. But one hopes that this isn't the end of Americans being allowed to dream big, think big, and achieve even bigger realities.

--Robert

Captain Planet Movie?

Live Action Captain Planet Movie?

Speaking about the superhero, Stuart Snyder, president of Turner's chidren's division, said: "The messages of Captain Planet are even more relevant today. We feel this team can bring the world’s first eco-hero to life in a powerful motion picture that is not only pertinent but entertaining."

For a 90s kid like me, this comes as awesome news. I grew up watching Captain Planet and the Planteers. I enjoyed watching Captain Planet save the Earth from greedy capitalists on a weekly basis. With oil spills, melting ice caps, and wild climate change induced weather; Captain Planet's message is even more relevant today than it was 20 years ago. Can't wait to see this!

‪DREAM Act Story: Elier Lara‬‏

Touching story from Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.